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[Ivae Z'ress]

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The cave at Spirituality. Ivae had come to hate and love this place in many ways. The feeling that swept over her, that total calm, this time was battled by the remains of her beloved Ramoth, laying in her arms. The lightening spell allowed her to carry the heavy load, but she knew it would not last for long.

As they wound through the levels of the cave, the farmiliar spot they had chosen for her final resting place came into view. The circle of mushrooms where Ramoth used to curl up and sleep shone today with a new light, but it was a light that was dim and morbid. Ivae's cheeks were dry, although she wished she could cry. Wished she could feel. It hurt, but not like it should have. She could feel love and pain, but they were not the same. Emotions without meaning.

Jaana was so torn up she could barely breathe, but she would not show it yet. Ivae could see the pain beneath her anger, but she could not help, so there was no point in trying to help. What is help from someone who can't mean it? Ivae would have been frustrated if she could have known she needed to be.

How do you dig a whole big enough to bury a dragon? Jaana told Ivae to stand back and she preceeded to cast an Energy Ball directly under her feet. The explosion was deafening, but in the end, Jaana stood in a bloody crater. She staggered to the edge of the crater with her load and dropped it silently in.

Moving from the lip, she walked beside Jaana. Somewhere, her soul screamed she should be doubled in pain for her dragon, but her body could not feel. Gathering Jaana in her arms, she murmured into her hair.

"I have to heal you, we have to do this together...."

A soft green glow surrounded them both, although Ivae's magic was without substanence, and therefore very weak. Magic powered only by the mind and not the soul is not the same, not as powerful.

The wounds sealed, but Jaana was still very weak as she pushed from Ivae's embrace, walking to the edge of the crater. Ivae followed, dropping to her knees, pressing her thin hands to the soft dirt they pushed into the whole, slowly covering her body. When it was finished, Ivae leaned her lips to the ground, whispering in Elvish.

After Jaana had finished paying her respects, Ivae mounted Brenna and rode from the cave, fast. The glow of the moongate greeted them quickly, although they sat before it for ten full minutes before they could remember or decide where to go. In the end, Jaana simply walked Ivae home. Murmured and half felt farewells ensued on the front porch of the Moonglow Tavern and Trade.

Ivae glanced around her, and recalled to the small home where her things were stored at the moment. She dropped Brenna's reigns just inside the door and moved to a chest by the wall. Grabbing the first thing she came to, she stripped of her old clothes. Bashfulness was another she couldn't feel, and as she stepped nude through her front door, the shiver that ran through her had everything to do with the cold air, and nothing to do with being shy.

Walking boldly to the water's edge, she stepped into the cold water, her teeth chattering within a matter of moments. Jaana's, her own, Ramoth's blood, and dirt swirled away from her body, carried off by the mindless waves. She sat for a long time, thinking of everything and nothing, her body was numb like her mind. Her nearly translucent skin was blue as she raised and walked back into her house, slipping on clothes and curling on a pillow in the middle of the floor, blessed sleep, or hyperthermia one, enveloped her.
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[Jaana]

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Jaana and Ivae now stood at the cave, Ivae with a pile of crunched up metal and bone in her arms. Dropping her robe and stripping off all on her person aside from her leather leggings and top, Jaana dug through the pile and pulled out a scroll. She waved Ivae away from the center of the mushroom circle and stood there, closing her eyes.

Ilshenar, it could drive her insane if she stayed there too long. It overflowed with power, with magic, and overpowered those who did not overflow with it already. All she could feel was a pain buried deep beneath her flesh, and even deeper beneath her soul.. an emotional wound much like a tumor which was beginning to spread in the same manner. Partly caused by her recent frequent camping in Ilshenar and being able to concentrate much less on ignoring whatever bothered her, the same forces were at work to grant her such powers.

Lost in her concentration, she didn't notice the bolt of energy that shot through a light-bearing crevice in the cave's unseen until the pain was overwhelming. She managed to crawl out of the crater and collapsed against a stalagmite, though a sharp end of it nicked her already profusely bleeding figure. A trail of thick violet fluid followed her and poured over her, bathing her in her own blood.

Is she going to bury me here as well?

She heard Ivae in a distant, dreamy manner as a shocking realization of pain shot through her. Soon after, all that was left of her physical injuries were the smears of thick purple that had leaked out of her wounds, as well as the trail of it from the crater to where she sat. Still, Jaana felt extremely weak, fatigued.. Though Ivae was a strong sorceress, Jaana rarely used magic and only the fact that it ran through her veins and was the source of her ability to function in the first place was she able to have cast such a powerful spell. If she had been in Britannia, even Moonglow, Jaana would not have survived a similar event. Ilshenar had granted her the power to use her new potential.

Stumbling over to the crater which Ramoth's remains now rested in, she began to shove dirt back over it though with her head turned. The sight of Ramoth's corpse forced her to the brink of tears, and she was determined not to let the pain get the best of her, even if it meant resorting to such cowardice as avoiding her fears, of refusing to allow the image to sink in.

Ivae had ended up doing most of the burying due to Jaana's weak state. Only after they were finished did Jaana dare look at the mound. Ivae kneeled in front of it and kissed the dirt, though when she stood she had an absolutely blank expression.

Jaana's mind shot back to earlier that day, when Ivae said goodbye to Nazralte.

"Amin mela lle," she murmured, fear of rejection evident in her eyes. She leaned forward to kiss him.

"I love you too," he responded quietly. Jaana, who had been standing in the doorway, stormed down the stairs with prayers and visions of Nazralte's demise playing in her mind.

Jaana stood there, staring at the ground instead of looking to Ivae any longer. The temptation to slap the dazed woman across the face was so strong when she saw that blank expression now. She can spare emotion on such absolute filth yet not even fake a frown on Ramoth's behalf?

"Come on," Jaana muttered, gathering her belongings and crawling onto Jenna's back. Jenna pawed nervously at the ground, sensing Jaana's strongly negative emotions towards a being that Jenna had grown to love as much as Jaana and even respected a little more.

They bolted out of the cave with Ivae on her horse behind them, heading towards the moongate.

"Where to?" Jaana demanded, eyeing Ivae with a forcibly neutral expression. The bitterness did not cease to seep through her words.

"I don't know.."

After a moment of just staring at the moongate, Jaana yet again repeated her question though a little more hostilely than previously. Ivae, still indecisive, allowed Jaana to lead her back to Moonglow.

She walked her home, though it was tempting just to leave her on the side of the street. How she prayed the woman would get eaten alive by mongbats at the moment.

They stopped at the steps of the tavern. Ivae murmured her thanks, though Jaana dashed off the instant she stepped onto the steps, ignoring the words which meant nothing to her.

"Good eve," she called insincerely...

Jaana now stood at the mound which covered her ground-bound dragon companion now lay underneath. Never had she felt so strongly for any of her own kind, humanity.. Or even Ivae. She didn't know what it was about most animals that made them seem so admirable compared to the civilized creatures, though she doubted she'd ever have feelings so strong for anything on two legs.

Ivae, she had failed her twice already now.. Allowing her to fall so helplessly into Nazralte's arms, and allowing her to do the same with the Soul Seeker. Jenna, she'd almost lost her four times now and it was only because of Jenna's strong spirit that the horse paced around in the cave alive and well. And Ramoth.. She had failed her permanently now when she could have done something to help her.. to save her..

I could have saved her...

Her legs went numb underneath her, causing her to fall to her side. Her arms kept her face from hitting the ground, though she leaned over the gravesite unmoving.

"I.. I could have saved her.." she choked out, her whole body trembling. A small damp spot appeared on the dirt pile. Three more appeared nearby before her arms gave out on her. She collapsed, gasping for air, dirt clinging to her now tearstained face. Weak.. her mind mused, though she payed it no heed as she mourned.
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"Forrest, a woman of many words.. Though most of them result in saying, 'You're wrong!'"